Bashing Dads Needs To Stop And Here’s Why
A friend showed me this e-card and it made me steaming mad. For those who can’t see the image, it is a picture of an exhausted woman, with her hand over her eyes, and the caption, “You know that feeling of being able to sit down when you’re exhausted? Yeah, me either. I’m not a dad.”
Now I like quirky e-cards and memes as much as the next person. I find most gender humor quite hilarious. But something so overtly mean to one gender cannot be funny. After all, how would we women like it if the e-card said, “You know that feeling of being able to sit down when you’ve been mowing the lawn and trimming hedges in the summer heat all afternoon? Yeah, me either. I’m not a wife.” There would be a well-deserved uproar! Women would be calling for the head of whoever wrote it. And whoever was crass enough to share it—and laugh about it—on social media.
Yes of course, there are men who do no chores, who watch their wives struggling to do everything without bothering to help. There are men who, if their wife says “Honey, can you give the kids their bath?” or “Could you run and get milk from the store?” will look exasperated and elect to keep going with their very important gaming or internet activities. There are men who are lazy, or gaming addicts, or just don’t care that much.
But those men are rare.
What Are The Majority Of Men Like?
In our surveys, it is very clear that the vast majority of men think about protecting and providing for their families a lot. They work hard to bring home a paycheck, to mow the lawn, to do the dishes, to do whatever they can to serve their families. Just like we women do. For most men, the question, “What can I do to make my wife happy? What can I do to take care of my family?” is at the forefront of their minds. They may not do it exactly the way their wives want . . . they may doubt their abilities as a father . . . they may take what we think is “too much” downtime after work when dinner needs to get done . . . they may have different definitions of what is necessary to do. But none of that changes the fact that they want to do whatever they need to do to care for their families.
Survey of “Real Dads”
In fact the Dove brand—that champion of “realness” in women—did a 2014 survey of real dads out of curiosity. They found that how fathers are portrayed in the media is not at all reflective of how they view themselves. In fact, of all dads (which presumably includes those without kids at home!) 74% say they are actively caring for their kids’ emotional well-being and 51% are taking direct responsibility for their kids’ daily needs.
Let’s Fight The Cultural Trend
Now imagine how those men see that e-card. Is there any better way to demoralize your husband (or the little future husband that you are raising for some future wife!) than to find that funny? Let’s fight that cultural trend. Let’s actively celebrate our men in their role as dads, even if we wish they would do more chores, or do them differently, or whatever. Let’s encourage our men by seeing the best in them instead of telling them we expect them to fail.
One great example of encouragement is the Dove “Real Dads” video. It made me cry. And statistically, it is a much more realistic reflection of how much dads do and how much they care. So happy Father’s Day to all you great dads out there! We celebrate you!
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Shaunti Feldhahn loves sharing eye-opening information that helps people thrive in life and relationships. She herself started out with a Harvard graduate degree and Wall Street credentials but no clue about life. After an unexpected shift into relationship research for average people like her, she now is a popular speaker and author of best-selling books about men, women and relationships. (Including For Women Only, For Men Only, and the groundbreaking The Good News About Marriage).
Her latest book, Find Rest: A Women’s Devotional for Lasting Peace in Busy Life, focuses on a journey to rest even with life’s constant demands.
Visit www.shaunti.com for more.
Shaunti, than you for taking a stand for dads. Most of the men I see on TV shows are either lazy slobs or bumbling idiots. Lousy husbands and fathers. The REAL dads out there aren’t anything like that. Sure, far from perfect, but loving our wives and our children and trying our best to do what’s best for them.
The best way wives can fight this cultural trend is to say positive things ABOUT their husbands, and especially TO their husbands. A man will run through fire and sword for his family, and all it takes is affirmation from his wife to convince a man that he is invincible and has what it takes to be the husband and father his family needs and deserves.
Why We Need to Stop Making Fun of Dads—Give dads a chsnce -Good dads are the the real game-changers.
“Dads, says Meg Meeker, are the real gamechangers for kids and the culture, because they are the KEY in developing a child’s healthy self esteem, in keeping kids in school and seeking higher education and in staying out of trouble. If Dads could see themselves from behind their kids’ eyes, she claims, their lives would never be the same. Better dads means healthier kids who grow into successful adults. And strong adults create a healthier culture. No, it’s not always about Mom.
Dr. Meeker is a pediatrician, who has practiced pediatric and adolescent medicine for 25 years. She is the author of six books including the best-selling Strong Fathers/ Strong Daughters: Ten Secrets Every Father Should Know, Boys Should Be Boys, Your Kids At Risk, The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers: Reclaiming Our Passion, Purpose and Sanity, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: The 30 Day Challenge and Strong Mothers, Strong Sons: Lessons Mothers Need to Raise Extraordinary Men, Ballentine Books, April 2014. She is a popular speaker on pediatric health issues and child-parent relationships.